On Dec. 12, nearly 200 nations approved the “Paris Agreement.” The 32-page document spells out humanity’s new, official plan to confront the crisis of climate change. The accord was negotiated in a secure facility in the Paris suburb of Le Bourget. Public demonstrations across France were banned under the “state of emergency” imposed after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Activists defied the ban, saying that same phrase, “state of emergency,” describes the planet’s climate. Protests, at times violently repressed by police, occurred throughout the two-week United Nations summit, as people from around the world demanded a fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty to avert the worst consequences of global warming.

“What I see is an agreement with no timetables, no targets, with vague, wild aspirations,” British journalist George Monbiot told me two days after the talks ended. “I see a lot of back-slapping, a lot of self-congratulation, and I see very little in terms of the actual substance that is required to avert climate breakdown.”

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Declaration
The Paris climate summit was an opportunity for countries to acknowledge the seriousness of climate change and the need to urgently decarbonise our economies. However the Paris agreement will not be enough to stop climate change impacting the most vulnerable communities. Its impact is already being felt in all corners of the globe. Vulnerable communities on the frontline of climate change are already suffering worse droughts, more intense storms, and their homes are already being encroached upon by rising sea levels. They are already suffering loss and damage from climate change.

Leaving Paris we will push for more ambitious climate action, and to ensure that the most vulnerable are supported in facing the worst impacts of climate change – a problem they had no part in creating.

The industry that is most responsible for climate change is the fossil fuel industry – responsible for roughly 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. The fossil fuel industry is responsible not only for the majority of carbon emissions but also for the delay in dealing with the problem. They have known about climate change for decades, yet have funded climate denialists and have subverted political processes aimed at fighting the problem. International law – and basic fairness – say that the fossil fuel industry should pay for the loss and damage that their product is causing.

We will therefore work to introduce a global fossil fuel extraction levy (the Carbon Levy) to ensure that the people facing the worst impacts of climate change are compensated by those that caused the problem.

We support work by allies on legal strategies to bring the fossil fuel industry to account for the damage their product is causing. And it is crucial to ensure that fossil fuels are phased out and replaced by renewable energy by mid century.

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The corporate media is absolutely useless these days, and their coverage of this presidential election proves it. The best thing that the American public can do right now is to turn off the corporate media.

Some cities and states are being proactive about climate change’s effects. But others are not. How do you build resilient communities? This clip featuring Harvard Chan’s Jack Spengler is from from Climate Change: Health and Disease Threats, a collaboration of The Forum at the Harvard Chan School and The GroundTruth Project, on December 16, 2015.

Watch the entire series from The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at www.ForumHSPH.org.

An historic climate agreement was reached at COP21 in Paris. But what will it take to keep the momentum going? The GroundTruth Project’s Charlie Sennott and Harvard Chan’s Aaron Bernstein, who also is a hospitalist at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, discuss what’s at stake. This clip is from from Climate Change: Health and Disease Threats, a collaboration of The Forum at the Harvard Chan School and The GroundTruth Project, on December 16, 2015.

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Welcome….

Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
The links are listed here to be used in whatever manner they may be helpful in public information campaigns, course preparation, teaching, letter-writing, lectures, class presentations, policy discussions, article writing, civic or Congressional hearings and citizen action campaigns, etc. For further information on this blog see: About this weblog. and How to use this weblog.